Arizona juries that couldn’t decide on death penalty

There have been at least five hung juries in the death-penalty phase of cases in Maricopa County since a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that juries and not judges should determine if there are sufficient reasons, called aggravating factors, to sentence a murderer to death.

If the jury cannot reach a decision in the penalty phase, the state has the right to ask for a new jury, which it did in four of the cases.

In three of those, the new jury gave death. In one, the defendant got life after two juries reached hung decisions. In the other, the state decided not to ask for a new jury. A brief look at each case:

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